Maritime Injury Law Blog

November 25, 2009

Reversing a Seattle District Court decision, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has held that an injured Alaska fish processor has presented sufficient evidence that his case must go to trial.

Samson Ili brought a Jones Act injury claim against American Seafoods based upon the theory that it was negligent to require crewmen to work 16 hours a day, seven days a week, for months at a time. Ili was injured at the end of his shift, after months of work, while lifting 70-lb bags of product. The vessel reportedly took a roll and Ili lost his balance while handling the heavy bag, resulting in his injury. The Ninth Circuit ruled that a reasonable jury could find that these work conditions were a breach of American Seafood’s duty to provide a safe work environment. The Court held that even if the 16-hour-day work shift were customary in the fishing industry, that this does not establish a lack of negligence. The Court further noted that the long hours could be determined to be evidence that the American Seafoods vessel, American Triumph, was under-manned at the time of the crewman’s injury. The case will now be returned to the District Court where a jury will determine whether or not American Seafoods was negligent and their vessel unseaworthy.

Few Jones Act cases are subject to being dismissed upon motions for summary judgment. In almost all cases an injured seaman should have the right to have his case tried before a jury. In deciding motions to dismiss a Jones Act injury claim, all evidence must be taken in a light most favorable to the injured seaman. Ili v. American Seafoods reinforces this longstanding principle that seamen are entitled to all favorable inferences when vessel owners and employers attempt to dismiss their injury claims.

Posted by Beard Stacey & Jacobsen, LLP at 12:06 PM | Permalink

Heavy winds and high seas led the Coast Guard to close the Colombia River, Tillamook Bay, and Grays Harbor River bars over the weekend due to hazardous sea conditions. The bar closures were for all vessels. Information about bar conditions are available from the Coast Guard on VHF-FM channel 16. The bars were to remain closed until weather conditions improved. The Washington and Oregon bars are extremely hazardous, with the Columbia River Bar aptly named the “graveyard of the Pacific” because of the many casualties that have occurred there.

Posted by Beard Stacey & Jacobsen, LLP at 3:10 PM | Permalink

A Washington State King County jury has awarded total damages in the amount of $1.6 million dollars to a crewman injured on an Alaska fish processor owned by Icicle Seafoods. $1.3 million dollars of the award was for punitive damages for Icicles’ wilful and wanton failure to pay maintenance and cure benefits as required by Federal law. Mr. Clausen, the injured crewman, was represented by Jim Jacobsen of the Seattle based maritime injury law firm of Beard Stacey & Jacobsen.

In February of 2006, Dana Clausen, a 55 year old Louisiana fisherman suffered back injuries in a lifting accident aboard the fish processing barge BERING STAR. Icicle disputed Clausen’s right to maintenance and cure. During the course of trial Icicle was ordered to produce a secret medical report they had commissioned relating to Clausen’s need for further treatment. The physician had reviewed Clausen’s records had recommended further treatment for Clausen and noted the need for possible surgery in the future. Icicle ignored the report, and subsequently commissioned a second medical report from a different physician indicating that Clausen needed no further treatment.

Under Federal maritime law, employers owe their crewman a good faith duty to administer maintenance and cure benefits. All doubts as to entitlements of benefits are to be resolved in favor of the injured seaman. Where there is conflicting medical evidence, the issue should be resolved in favor of the injured seaman. The King County jury found that Icicle was unreasonable in their failure to pay Clausen maintenance and cure and that Icicle’s conduct was willful and wanton.

In June, 2009, the Supreme Court of the United States made it clear in Atlantic Soundings v. Townsend that punitive damages were available in maintenance and cure claims. In addition to punitive damages, a seaman may also recover reasonable attorney fees for the improper withholding of maintenance and cure. Post trial proceedings will now determine Clausen’s rights to an award of additional attorney fees.

Posted by Beard Stacey & Jacobsen, LLP at 12:18 PM | Permalink

In mid-November, in a U.S. Federal Bankruptcy proceeding, Trident Seafoods lost a bid to purchase a Fish Processing Facility on Adak Island in Alaska. Trident was out bid by a competing purchaser, Adak Fisheries, who bid $488,000 plus assumption of $6.7 million dollars in pending bank loans. Trident reportedly offered $2 million but was unwilling to take on the debt as part of their bid. The deal may make it possible for the plant to open as early as January 2010.

Posted by Beard Stacey & Jacobsen, LLP at 12:13 PM | Permalink

Operation “Safe Crab” has been set in motion on the Washington and Oregon coasts in an attempt to limit further deaths in the commercial crab fishery. In November, the Coast Guard will be conducting dock-side examinations throughout the Northwest ports for the safety of the crab fleet. These inspections will be limited mostly to inspection of life rafts, epirbs, and survival suits.

The Washington and Oregon commercial crab fishery has a high incidence of deadly accidents. This may be the result of smaller boats operating in what can sometimes be severe weather conditions. However, the Coast Guard notes that most all casualties are preventable if good safety practices are followed. Remarkably, passage of safety regulations for commercial fishing vessels has been opposed by many fishermen due to the high cost of implementation.

Although some safety regulations have recently been passed, they have only slightly lowered commercial fishing fatalities. Many of the regulations do not apply to the Washington and Oregon commercial crab vessels because of their size, and the fact that most all of the vessels are designated as “uninspected.”

The loss of life in the Oregon and Washington crab fishery has been large. A study conducted by the National Institute of Occupational Safety revealed that the death rate in Oregon was 6 times higher than in other commercial fisheries, and nearly ten times higher than that of Washington crab fishermen.

The Coast Guard believes that further regulation of the crab fishing fleet in Washington and Oregon would save more lives and help limit injury accidents. The Coast Guard points to poor vessel conditions, inadequate training in emergency response and use of survival gear, and lack of awareness of stability issues as leading causes of casualties. The Coast Guard’s short term goal is to improve safety awareness in the Oregon and Washington crab fleet. The long term goal is to propose further regulations requiring safety examinations, emergency drill preparedness, crew training, and further improving communications with fishermen regarding casualty prevention.

Posted by Beard Stacey & Jacobsen, LLP at 5:24 PM | Permalink

On November 12, 2009 the search for three fishermen aboard the F/V Sea Tractor was suspended by the United States Coast Guard. The F/V Sea Tractor was a 44-foot commercial fishing vessel home ported in Cape May. The vessel is believed to have sank in heavy seas of up to 20 feet and high winds. The accident happened approximately 20 miles east of Cape May. The Coast Guard was alerted to the disaster when it received a transmission from the vessel emergency positioning locating beacon (epirb). A Coast Guard helicopter was on the scene approximately an hour later and discovered an empty life raft with a strobe light attached. A fishing vessel in the area reported finding a debris field and the vessel’s epirb.

Believed lost in the tragedy are the vessel’s captain, Kenneth Rose Sr., his son Kenneth Jr., and crewman Larry Forrest. All of the crewmen are reported to be from North Carolina. The loss of the crew of the F/V Sea Tractor follows the loss of six crewmen from the F/V Lady Mary. The Lady Mary was also home ported in Cape May.

Posted by Beard Stacey & Jacobsen, LLP at 5:21 PM | Permalink

The search has been suspended for Gregory Luckett who is reported to have fallen into the water off a 25 foot construction barge near the mouth of the South River in Chesapeake Bay. Luckett and two other workers were reportedly returning from a construction site towing a barge when they encountered stormy weather, Luckett apparently lost his balance and went overboard. It is unknown whether or not he was wearing any personal flotation device or work vest. The Coast Guard indicated that despite an exhaustive search they were unable to locate Luckett. The case remains under investigation by the Coast Guard.

Posted by Beard Stacey & Jacobsen, LLP at 8:42 AM | Permalink

Erin Reiman has been charged with murder of fisherman John Adkins. The crewmen were in Ilwaco aboard the F/V TIGER on July 5, 2009 when the murder is alleged to have taken place. According to information contained in the Court files, the murder happened as follows: Reiman and Adkins had recently become partners in the fishing vessel and brought the vessel to Ilwaco for repairs. Adkins and another crewman, Walter Bremmer, had been visiting bars in Ilwaco and thereafter, Adkins returned to the vessel. When Bremmer returned to the vessel, he witnessed Reiman and Adkins fighting. Reiman punched Adkins in the face and allegedly banged Adkins head into a window and threw him down the vessel’s stairs. Reiman continued to beat Adkins, he then wrapped an extension cord around Adkins’ neck and strangled him to death. Bremmer claims Reiman threatened to kill him too and ordered Bremmer to help him clean up the murder scene. The two men then put Adkins in a sleeping which they tied up with the extension cord. They stored Adkins’ body in the engine room and pretended to search for him the following day. The next day the men left port and about three miles off shore, dumped Adkins’ body overboard, weighed down with fishing gear. The murder was investigated by the Oregon State Police department and the Long Beach Police department. It appears that Adkins will stand trial on the second degree murder charges in Pacific County, Washington.

Posted by Beard Stacey & Jacobsen, LLP at 9:25 AM | Permalink